


Stargazers & Moonbeams

by AndThatWasEnough



Series: Jack Kline Bingo [1]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Castiel and Dean Winchester and Sam Winchester are Jack Kline's Parents, Christmas, Cute Jack Kline, Gen, Men of Letters Bunker (Supernatural), Season/Series 14, Season/Series 14 Spoilers, that damn telescope
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:28:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,599
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23827633
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndThatWasEnough/pseuds/AndThatWasEnough
Summary: What's the point of a telescope you can't even use?
Relationships: Castiel & Jack Kline & Dean Winchester & Sam Winchester, Jack Kline & Sam Winchester
Series: Jack Kline Bingo [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1716847
Comments: 5
Kudos: 43





	Stargazers & Moonbeams

**Author's Note:**

> For the Jack Kline Bingo. Space: "I saw it and thought of you."
> 
> Takes place in about January of 2019, so after 14.10.
> 
> Happy reading :)

Everyone who knew Jack knew he loved _Star Wars_. It was an undeniable truth. His love of it had certainly made his first Christmas very easy, both for him and his family, because all you had to do was get him something with the franchise logo on it and he was over the moon. In fact, pretty much all Jack had wanted for Christmas was this red coat he saw at Cabela’s and the Lego Death Star. If you walked into his room today, you’d see that coat hanging on a hook and a Death Star in-progress in the corner. Jack would pull it out and work on it from time to time, sit on the floor with it and work while something played on his laptop – not necessarily _Star Wars_ , though. It was kinda sweet, actually; he’d sit there with this real concentrated look on his face, his tongue peeking out a bit, eyes narrowed as he looked back and forth between the instructions and the ever-growing structure. But, please – nobody tell him that sometimes his fathers watch for a few moments from the doorway. He’d just be embarrassed.

There was another thing that everybody knew about Jack, and that was he was very… _curious_.

(Sam told Dean that was a nicer thing to say than _the kid asks so many fucking questions_. Dean gave him that one.)

He asked about a lot of things, really, but there was one topic of discussion that lately, he couldn’t seem to get over. And that was the telescope.

_Does the telescope work? Why is it in that corner? Can you even see out of it from there? If you can’t see out of it from there, why would they put it there? How can you even tell if its working if it’s facing the ceiling? Can the roof open there? Can we move it? Can we take it outside? Can we try?_

To be frank, it’s starting to get a bit grating. Sam and Cas have been very patient, more patient than Dean, whose only response to each question has been _I don’t know_ because he truly does not know, but that apparently isn’t a satisfactory answer. But Sam and Cas are really just speculating on most of their answers; the only thing they’ve been able to confirm is that it does indeed work. They had Dean check out the bunker’s blueprints to determine whether or not the roof could open above it, but he wasn’t able to figure that one out.

“It’s a real shame,” Cas lamented, shaking his head. “It’s a powerful telescope.”

“What can you see with it? How far?” Jack asked. “Like, the end of the universe?”

“Oh, no,” Cas said, and Jack’s shoulders slumped a bit. That was clearly a disappointment. “But you could see pretty far, that is for sure.”

“It was pretty stupid of the guys who built this place to stick it here where you can’t even use it,” Jack pouted. He kicked the base lightly. The telescope didn’t budge.

xXx

The reason Jack cared so much about the telescope is because he liked _Star Wars_ so much. Makes sense, doesn’t it? Kid loves the space movies, kid loves the outer space! Also, he was a (formerly?) cosmic being, who had a real interest in the universe around and outside of him, which made Castiel very happy. Cas liked to show him the stars and constellations, the planets, but since the loss of his powers, Jack complained that it wasn’t the same. He couldn’t go to Alpha Centauri, or focus in on any of the stars in Orion’s Belt just with his eyes. Now they all just looked like pale dots. 

It made him very sad.

“Just because you don’t have your powers doesn’t mean you can’t still love the stars,” Cas explained to him. “Humans have been looking up for…well, for as long as there have been humans! Humanity has a very intimate relationship with the stars. They give a sense of time, of direction…they use them to tell stories with the constellations. They use them to date events in the universe, and the universe itself. The stars remind us that we’re small, and that’s okay.”

Jack furrowed his brow and sat down on a stump, staring up. Cas sat beside him. “Why’s it okay to be small?” He wondered.

Cas sighed. “Trust me, Jack. I was big for a very long time. I had many responsibilities, and I am only a seraph – compare that to the rest of the duties of the Heavenly Host, my superiors. And I…well, I didn’t always treat that responsibility in the way I should have. Believe me, being big is not all it’s cracked up to be in this universe. Much better to live a small life and try your best to enjoy it than to carry the weight of the world on your shoulders.”

Jack watched his father carefully as he considered the heavens. The Heavens™, Jack had learned, was very different from Heaven itself. Maybe Heaven was where his mother was, and it had been nice to be with her, but it couldn’t hold a candle to the sky on a cold January night in Kansas. You can’t see faint streaks of the Milky Way from Heaven. 

“But you still do,” Jack said softly, realizing how true it was. “And so do Sam and Dean.”

Cas raised his eyebrows knowingly. “And so do you. Perhaps the stars still have a few things yet to teach us.”

xXx

Christmas that year had really been something rotten.

The only reason there had really been any sort of excitement around it that year was because of Jack. It had never been much for the Winchesters, but since they had settled into the bunker, they’d tried to at least take those couple days off, sit around watching Christmas movies and getting happily drunk on eggnog. Dean liked to work a bit of his magic in the kitchen. But that was about it. Jack had demanded more of that, which was fine. He was a kid, and he deserved a nice Christmas. 

It didn’t quite pan out that way.

Dean was repossessed by Michael on Christmas Eve. He trapped Michael in his head on Christmas. And then he had announced he wanted to be alone for a while. That was fine, too, but it did sort of put a damper on the holiday. All of it did. Sam felt just awful when he’d had to call Bess Fitzgerald and tell her that Garth would be coming home to her tied up and knocked out in the back of a trunk while Michael’s grace (hopefully) ran through his system. That’s no way to spend your Christmas. 

The coat and the Lego set were things Sam had picked up for Jack before Christmas, early gifts because he’d had a niggling feeling that the holiday might quickly go downhill with the timeline they were on. Jack had been delighted, wore his new jacket everywhere. It was cute, ya know? The kid was festive. While Sam had followed Dean to Donna’s cabin, Jack apparently spent the whole time in his room, building the Death Star, while he was wearing his new jacket. 

Kids really are the best kind of weird.

So Christmas had been terrible. Sam wouldn’t have really cared if it weren’t for the whole Jack thing. The kid had just _died_ , for Pete’s sakes! That had really shaken them all up, and for about a week after his return, the kid wore only pajamas and stuck close to one of their side’s at almost all times. He sat next to Sam in the library as he researched, and Sam let him play games on his tablet. He tried to convince Cas to let him stay up with him as he went on his nightly walkabouts through the bunker just so Jack could be near someone, something solid and real, but Cas had told him he needed the sleep (though, he did cave a little bit and let him stay up a little later than he maybe would have liked that week.) And Jack sat in the kitchen, maybe the most welcoming room in the whole place, while Dean was at work. That’s where Jack was on Thanksgiving, too, the last holiday that they had ‘ _done right_.’ Dean had given him potatoes to scrub off, a casserole dish of sweet potatoes to put little marshmallows on top of, and a tray of rolls to put into bread baskets. Jack had taken each duty seriously, with the same determination that he was now giving to the Death Star. 

Mary came home for Thanksgiving to see him. She insisted they say grace before dinner.

Getting so sick and dying in the way he had, and then to be resurrected, must have really been a lot for Jack’s young mind and body and soul. Recovery took time. He liked having Thanksgiving, so of course he wanted to have a Christmas. But it all just got so royally fucked up.

It made Sam’s heart ache. It was so hard to deliver the good things sometimes. Sam wished he could give out more good, especially to _their_ kid, who in his eyes deserved it more than anyone. 

He would make it up to him.

xXx

“Ta-da!”

Jack tilted his head and stared quizzically at the large package that Sam had placed in front of him, wrapped in snowflake wrapping paper. He looked up at Sam. “What’s this?”

“Uh,” Sam rubbed the back of his neck and shrugged, trying to play it cool. “Just a little something to make up for the crappy Christmas we had. I know you wanted to do it right, and we didn’t get the chance to, so…here you go.”

Jack stood up, further inspecting the package. “But you already got me the jacket and the Death Star,” he said, puzzled. “What else do I need?”

Well, as Sam, Dean, and Cas all knew, Jack had actually sent quite the list off to Santa, and they had, uh, _intercepted_ it, so they knew that Jack had quite a lot that he was hoping to see under the tree come Christmas morning. Sam wanted to give him everything Jack ever wanted, and Cas and Dean felt the same, but once again, it just didn’t pan out like that. This was the best Sam could do right now.

“It’s not about _need_ ,” he explained. “You can want things, too. And Santa’s not the only one who can give presents, you know. I just thought you’d like this. I saw it and thought of you.”

After another moment of deep thought, Jack finally smiled, and Sam finally started to relax. “Thank you, Sam.” But then Jack looked panicked. “I want Dean and Cas to be able to see me open it, too!” He proclaimed. “Where are they?”

Sam blinked. “Uh. I think they’re in the library. Research.”

“Then let’s go!” Jack exclaimed, picking up the package (which he discovered was very, very, _very_ heavy), and waddled out with it to the library, where Cas and Dean – well, where Cas was busy researching, and Dean was dicking around on his computer. “Guys! Look what Sam got me!” Jack hefted the package up onto the table, pushing everything else aside. Cas narrowed his eyes, and Dean looked over at his brother with a look that said _Is this what I think it is?_ And Sam gave him a tight smile. 

“What’s this?” Cas asked.

“Late Christmas present,” Sam explained. “Jack wants to open it for everybody.”

Jack could now barely contain his excitement, jumping up and down in his place and looking like he was about ready to burst. “Can I open it now, please?” He was turning out so incredibly polite.

Dean nodded to the package. “Let ‘er rip, kid.”

There was a sudden flurry of ripped-up paper as Jack tore open his present, sending bits of paper everywhere. Cas watched on, just as curious as Jack was, while Sam shrugged covertly at his brother. Dean knew that Sam had to go into Cabela’s to get this, and Sam hated Cabela’s so he must’ve really loved Jack to risk doing such a thing. It was immediately worth it, though, because when all the paper had been torn away to reveal a high-powered, portable telescope, Jack somehow managed to become even _more_ excited.

“It’s a telescope!” He exclaimed needlessly. “And it’s one we can actually use!”

Damn straight it was. That had been the whole idea. Jack had been so obsessed with the telescope lately, that when Sam had been in – yuck – _Cabela’s_ to pick up some shotgun shells and saw it, he knew he had to get it for Jack. Clearly, it had made his day, which gave Sam a warm feeling that he rarely got to experience. It felt nice. Giving good felt really, really nice.

“Oh my,” Cas said.

“That’s pretty cool, Jack,” Dean said, pulling his Swiss army knife out of his pocket. “Wanna open it?”

Jack nodded vehemently, and in minutes all research had been forgotten as they pulled out the parts and started putting the telescope together. When it was all finished, Jack looked upon it with pride (even though Dean had done most of the putting together.) But now, they had an actual telescope they could use – one that wasn’t purely for decoration and just sat around collecting dust. Sam knew Jack would put this to good use.

“Well, only one thing left to do now,” Sam said, clapping Jack on the shoulder. 

Jack looked up at him. “What’s that?”

xXx

It was a beautiful night to do some stargazing.

On a hill out behind the bunker, the four of them had set up the telescope, and while Sam and Dean sat back with a couple of beers, Cas was taking Jack on a tour of the night sky. Sam took a peek every now and then, too, because how could he resist getting a good look at the stars in Orion’s belt, but he was having a lot more fun watching Jack.

“I want to look at one of the planets,” Jack said.

“I think we can see Mercury right now. Let’s take a look.” Cas started adjusting the telescope to the correct position, and then Jack bent down to look into the eyepiece.

“Oh, wow,” he breathed. “It looks so big now.”

Jack was simply overjoyed. His heart was overflowing. Gazing up at Mercury and the moon and the stars, Jack suddenly got what Cas meant when he said it wasn’t such a bad thing to be small. There was a whole great big universe out there, full of stars and other moons and other planets and other galaxies, and while Jack thought something like that should have made him feel lonely, it didn’t. It made him feel…miraculous. And not only him; Castiel was miraculous, and Sam was miraculous, and Dean was miraculous, too. Out of all the possibilities, the four of them had somehow come together, made from stardust and all the same elements you could find on distant moons. How grateful he was, then, to have been able to find himself in this position, with these good people on this good planet. As Castiel directed his gaze towards the Orion Nebula and then the Andromeda and Triangulum galaxies, Jack felt the smallest he ever felt.

It felt, for the briefest of moments, like a cosmic weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
